New Linux Variant of FASTCash Malware Targets Payment Switches in ATM Heists
Oct 15, 2024
Financial Fraud / Linux
North Korean threat actors have been observed using a Linux variant of a known malware family called FASTCash to steal funds as part of a financially-motivated campaign. The malware is "installed on payment switches within compromised networks that handle card transactions for the means of facilitating the unauthorized withdrawal of cash from ATMs," a security researcher who goes by HaxRob said . FASTCash was first documented by the U.S. government in October 2018 as used by adversaries linked to North Korea in connection with an ATM cashout scheme targeting banks in Africa and Asia since at least late 2016. "FASTCash schemes remotely compromise payment switch application servers within banks to facilitate fraudulent transactions," the agencies noted at the time. "In one incident in 2017, HIDDEN COBRA actors enabled cash to be simultaneously withdrawn from ATMs located in over 30 different countries. In another incident in 2018, HIDDEN COBRA actors enab...